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The Beatles' songs, albums, photos, places and much more, including a day-by-day guide to their career from 1957 to 1970 and beyond, plus profiles of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and many others.
The Beatles' songs, albums, photos, places and much more, including a day-by-day guide to their career from 1957 to 1970 and beyond, plus profiles of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and many others.
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You are here: Home » The Beatles' songs » Only A Northern Song

Only A Northern Song

Yellow Submarine album cover artwork Written by: Harrison
Recorded: 13, 14 February; 20 April 1967
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

Released: 17 January 1969 (UK), 13 January 1969 (US)

George Harrison: vocals, organ, effects
John Lennon: piano, glockenspiel, effects
Paul McCartney: bass, trumpet, effects
Ringo Starr: drums

Available on:
Yellow Submarine
Anthology 2
Yellow Submarine Songtrack

Recorded in 1967 during the Sgt Pepper sessions, George Harrison's Only A Northern Song wasn't released until the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in early 1969.

Buy from Amazon

Yellow Submarine (Remastered)

The Beatles. EMI 2009, Audio CD, $8.32

3.5


Anthology 2

Beatles. Capitol 2000, Audio CD, $12.11

4.5


Yellow Submarine Songtrack

Beatles. Capitol 1999, Audio CD, $11.72

4.5

The song's lyrics, although light-hearted, continue Harrison's established themes of introspection and slight misanthropy. The title was a pun on The Beatles' hometown and the company which published their songs.

Northern Songs was founded in 1963 by The Beatles, their manager Brian Epstein, and music publisher Dick James to publish Lennon and McCartney's songs. Harrison and Ringo Starr were essentially writers-for-hire until their contracts expired in 1968.

Only A Northern Song was a joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England. In addition, the song was copyrighted Northern Songs Ltd, which I don't own, so: 'It doesn't really matter what chords I play... as it's only a Northern Song'.
George Harrison
Anthology

During 1966 Harrison had become disenchanted with being a Beatle, and contributed relatively little to Sgt Pepper. Only A Northern Song, while conceived as a joke, also served as a complaint against the dominance of the Lennon-McCartney partnership and the few songs he was allowed to record each year.

I realized Dick James had conned me out of the copyrights for my own songs by offering to become my publisher. As an 18 or 19-year-old kid, I thought, 'Great, somebody's gonna publish my songs!' But he never said, 'And incidentally, when you sign this document here, you're assigning me the ownership of the songs,' which is what it is. It was just a blatant theft. By the time I realized what had happened, when they were going public and making all this money out of this catalog, I wrote Only A Northern Song as what we call a 'piss-take,' just to have a joke about it.
George Harrison

Only A Northern Song didn't make the grade for Sgt Pepper, and so was held over for an unspecified future release until the creators of the Yellow Submarine film needed more songs for the soundtrack.

[The filmmakers] wanted some new songs from us, so we recorded Only A Northern Song in Abbey Road. I remember playing a silly trumpet. My dad used to play. I can't, but I can mess around a lot - and that song gave me the perfect framework. It was very tongue in cheek.
Paul McCartney
Anthology

The song became one of The Beatles' most psychedelic recordings, featuring a host of unusual instruments including timpani, glockenspiel and chimes, and a phasing effect caused partly by the mixing together of two versions of the same rhythm track.

In the studio

The Beatles began recording Only A Northern Song on 13 February, with the working title Not Known. They taped nine takes of the rhythm track, four of which were complete. The best was take three, onto which Harrison overdubbed two lead vocals the following day.

It was returned to on 20 April, after The Beatles had completed Sgt Pepper. They discarded the vocals from 14 February, and in their place added bass, trumpet and glockenspiel. They then made another mix with new vocals, known as take 11. The two versions were then mixed together in sync to make the final mono version.

A new, slightly faster mix of the song was included on Anthology 2 in 1996. It was made up of the basic track from 13 February. with organ, bass, drums, and the vocals - featuring slightly different lyrics - that Harrison later re-recorded. The bass and guitar from the 20 April session was also incorporated in the mix.

A stereo version of Only A Northern Song wasn't made available until 1999, when Apple released the Yellow Submarine Songtrack collection.

Related articles:

  • Yellow Submarine
  • Yellow Submarine In Pepperland
  • Yellow Submarine Songtrack
  • All Together Now
  • Sea Of Time

17 responses to “Only A Northern Song”

  1. Roger says:
    Wednesday 5 August 2009 at 2.39am

    The beginning of "Only A Northern Song" sounds like U2.

    Reply to this comment
  2. Joseph Brush says:
    Sunday 16 August 2009 at 5.49pm

    You mean the U2 sounds like the Beatles.

    Reply to this comment
    • Matt says:
      Wednesday 26 August 2009 at 2.51am

      Oh, don't insult the poor Beatles like that. :P

      Reply to this comment
  3. Matt R says:
    Tuesday 15 September 2009 at 3.41pm

    This song transcends all other musical compositions. There simply isn't anything like it at all... and there probably never will be. Beatles at their creative peak I'd say.

    Reply to this comment
  4. Rufus says:
    Friday 18 September 2009 at 4.08am

    Always thought this was BY FAR the weakest Beatles song -- but then had a listen tonight, and realized it's actually not that bad. And its value, as a document of George's real frustrations as a member of the band, is kind of incredible. It's like George's 'Glass Onion.'

    Reply to this comment
  5. Vlad says:
    Sunday 27 September 2009 at 9.29pm

    Always haunted and attracted me, for all its supposed mediocrity (I disagree). Love listening to the remastered version.

    Reply to this comment
  6. Marty in Boulder says:
    Monday 4 January 2010 at 5.55am

    Can someone shed any light on the mix found on the original CD (1987) version of "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack" The original vinyl LP (1969) had this track in fake stereo. The new remastered CD has it in mono. The remixed "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" CD (1999) has it in real stereo. What mix appears on the first CD version?

    Reply to this comment
    • TheOneBeatle says:
      Monday 25 January 2010 at 5.21am

      In the first cd Version appeared the fake stereo/duophonic version that appeared in 1969. Unfortunately they remastered it in mono on the 2009 Remasters.

      Reply to this comment
  7. Craig says:
    Monday 1 March 2010 at 7.35pm

    The stereo version from the 1999 Yellow Sub is so much better than the hissy mono one on the new remasters. They should have used the stereo one again. But then again I think they should have re-mixed all the new remasters and balenced out the L/R channels, anyway!

    Reply to this comment
  8. StarrTime says:
    Tuesday 27 April 2010 at 7.28am

    People complain about this songs mediocrity, but listen to the lyrics...that's sort of the point of the song, "it doesn't really matter what chords I play..."

    Reply to this comment
  9. paulsbass says:
    Saturday 12 June 2010 at 8.37am

    Wow, I didn't know that crazy trumpet was played by McCartney.
    That man can always surprise you with ANOTHER great part on ANOTHER instrument.

    Reply to this comment
    • J. D. Mack says:
      Monday 30 August 2010 at 10.15pm

      The trumpet is recorded at half speed. But it certainly sounds impressive!

      Reply to this comment
  10. beatleKen says:
    Thursday 29 July 2010 at 12.32am

    i read somewhere once that Brian Jones of the Stones had something to do with the "weird horns" and played the glockenspiel.

    Reply to this comment
  11. Max says:
    Sunday 15 August 2010 at 4.25am

    I have "Yellow Submarine" on VHS (the U.S. re-release!) and I always fast-forwarded past this song because the animations in that scene always freaked me out. I like this song because it's such a slap in the face.

    And truly if The Beatles recorded them screaming & breaking glass and put on the A-side of a single it would go ot the top 10.

    Reply to this comment
  12. Doug Lindsay says:
    Tuesday 24 August 2010 at 4.15am

    I have always felt this is one of the Beatles and certainly George's most psychedelic songs. The barrage of non-rock type instruments, the lack of a "pretty little melody" and the catchy hook being a total piss-take add up to a total disregard for convention. It's also nice that they can't be accused of taking themselves seriously on this one. It probably helps that the first few times I heard it I was "listening late at night" but I thought the band quite right.

    Reply to this comment
  13. Denton says:
    Thursday 2 September 2010 at 12.30pm

    To me this is the BEST Beatles song. IT just incredible how uncoordinated songs can mix and sync themselves to produced a brilliant song. Splendid.

    Reply to this comment
  14. Cassie says:
    Thursday 2 September 2010 at 2.39pm

    Isn't there a bit of folklore with this tune in that Ringo is apparently so drunk for one of the sessions, he sings or slurs something & falls into the glokenspiel? I believe you can hear some of this in the background...too funny! But a GREAT tune...nice chord changes going into the refrain...very cool!

    Reply to this comment

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